arts
part of speech
noun (the arts — plural; art, arts); verb form (no)
meaning for a pupil
1) The arts are activities like painting, drawing, music, dance, drama, film and writing, where people make things to express ideas and feelings. tree →
2) Arts (in school and university) are subjects about people and culture, like history, languages and literature, as opposed to sciences. tree →
3) Arts is also the plural of «art», meaning skills: «the arts of cooking and sewing». tree →
sense in the lessons
In school, «arts and crafts» is making things by hand, like collages, paper models and clay pots; «the performing arts» are music, dance and drama on a stage. «Martial arts» are fighting sports like karate and judo. Phrases: «arts and crafts», «the arts», «performing arts», «martial arts», «arts centre», «Bachelor of Arts».
examples
- We do arts and crafts every Friday. tree →
- She loves the arts, especially dance and music. tree →
- Karate is one of the martial arts. tree →
- The town has a new arts centre. tree →
- Our school has a performing arts show in the summer. tree →
- My cousin studies arts at university. tree →
- The festival celebrates the arts. tree →
- We made puppets in arts and crafts. tree →
note
«Art» on its own usually means pictures and sculptures (uncountable: «I like art»). «The arts» is plural and broader. «Arts» vs «sciences» is a way of grouping school or university subjects.
In the corpora
- Judo and other martial arts teach students how to fall safely.
- (8-3) And the magicians did in like manner with their secret arts, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «arts» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.